The invention relates to solid oxide fuel cells and, more particularly, to an interconnect for solid oxide fuel cells.
Typical fuel cell power plants have alternating fuel cells and bipolar plates. The purpose of an interconnect is to pass and collect current from one cell to the next.
One structure for an interconnect is in the form of a conductive semi-rectangular structure which contacts the adjacent fuel cell and bipolar plate to pass current between them. While generally functional for the intended purpose of passing and collecting current, such an interconnect does have issues in connection with keeping good contact with the adjacent components. Further, a rectangular structure also has a high compression stiffness which can be problematic.
It is clear that a need exists for an improved interconnect which addresses these issues and which addresses the foregoing deficiencies with rectangular structures.